Friday, November 30, 2012

From Rags To Christmas

A number of weeks ago I took a road trip through a winter storm down unfrequented Manitoba highways, headed for Boissevain/Killarney. My daughter was playing in a volleyball tournament there, so I wanted to make sure she was well equipped with juice boxes, sandwiches from Subway, and all around moral support. Fortunately for me, I have a dear friend in the area, and I managed to avoid the sketchy prairie hotel room and lounge around in her country mansion instead.

When the time came for us to attempt the snow covered drive home, Rosa gave me a parting gift: a box full of goodies that she'd culled from her attic. Among the treasures was an old quilt- beautifully hand stitched, softly aged to near perfection, and hopelessly frayed to smithereens all along its edges.

I decided to bypass the stage of hoarding it in my stacks for a few billion years and set straight to cutting it into stocking-esque shapes. I'd made a few of this type of stocking last year at the request of a friend, and she's been badgering me endlessly about putting some together for the project. The time was now.

Fortunately, I'd also been hoarding chennille bedspreads and baby blankets for the past millenium, and this provided the perfect pallet to showcase some of it.

Once my bernina had eaten up the first entire quilt, my latent "Edward Scissorhands" arose and I chopped up another beautiful quilt that I'd gotten as a gift for my fortieth birthday.

And then with suggestions that maybe not everyone was wild about hint of pink for their husbands and sons ( picky, picky), I found the perfect use for this quilt: a marvelous piece made out of recycled wool bits, flannel, and corduroy.

I'm pleased to report this morning, that so far, the damaged quilt that Rose gifted me those weeks ago has generated $96.00 for charity! I love garbage that way.

(Here's me, this morning all cozy in a thrifted cardigan, cup of coffee, calculator, ipad, notes, and kitty cat. Talking to all of you. ;) Have a perfectly marvelous day).

8 comments:

Hi Joyce,Would you be willing to make more stockings for me? I need 3 of the "boyish" ones & then 2 girly ones. I think it would just take 2 more boyish ones than you have on Etsy...unless some of them have sold already. I'm interested in "Vixen", "Comet" & then 3 similar to "Rudolph". Let me know if that would be doable.Thanks:)Heidi

Thank you Linda for not giving up on me. It's challenging to write the blog posts, work the job, maintain the Etsy shop, ship, etc.... And often the blog is left fallow for longer than I'd like.But I always have a nice time when I get back here!

Joyce,I almost ordered some stockings through paypal then decided I could save the shipping charges and get directly from you. I'm interested in the Old Quilt E, Prancer and the one that is displayed to the left right in the middle if it's still available. Let me know, Brenda

ok, yes that all works, except that the last one you want is sold. I have roughly a billion more socks cut out and am hitting my machine tonight to get some more done. Then we'll get you set up for sock #3, thanks!

About Me

lives in her head, making the simplest things complex; is drawn to the oddest things, thinks in swirly and coloured bits, fears numbers,(the numerical variety, not the book) thinks Jesus had an excellent viewpoint, rarely remembers to de-hair or apply cosmetics, loves critters, and there's more. Much more.

My Etsy Shop!

About The Bags

I've always been a scrounger. Raised by a frugal prairie farm woman who reduced, reused, and recycled long, looooong before it was trendy; I've come into the concept of re-purposing honestly. I am silly-in-love with anything vintage-ish, and am powerless against it when I discover it stacked on card tables in someone's garage, or stale and lonely in a thrift shop.

* Most of the thrift shops are themselves humanitarian aid fund raisers.

*while keeping this stuff out of the landfills, you get to enjoy little pieces of history. Fabrics that used to function as tableclothes, aprons, bedspreads, sheet sets, coats.... Well, you get the idea.

*the proceeds of the project are intended for food aid to people in camps in and around the Sudan via the United Nations World Food Programme.

The bags are distributed in "good faith"; the fabrics within each piece can not be warranteed due to their unknown fiber contents. I myself treat my bags with little caution- throwing them in the wash, hanging them on the line to dry. I cannot offer any guarantees though, and do not offer refunds or returns; although I am certainly willing to do reasonable repairs. Although in a sense one is purchasing a bag, the bigger vision is to partner in feeding the hungry.

Interested in supporting the project? Visit my ETSY shop, top of the page. E-mail me with any question at re(dash)joyce(at)live.ca

Feel free to copy the "bag button" on the sidebar if you would like to place it on your own blog or web page.